Almost Home
by thestarsaresobrighthere
Summary: kinda AU! What if there is a third set of initials carved into the Impala? What if the initials belong to a girl that grew up by the side of the Winchesters, carrying a burden as heavy as the ones they carry? What if this girl isn't ordinary, and what if she isn't strictly human? Delilah Archibald hasn't always been the Lila the boys know and love, but she's always had their backs.
1. The Fire

**Disclaimer: Kripke and the SPN writers are amazing and own all of this except Lila and the plot :)**

**Hi! So I've never written anything for Supernatural (I usually stick to other things) even though I'm a huge fan mainly because I feel like the world SPN is in is so complete that it doesn't need anything but this just wouldn't leave me alone so yeah here you go :)**

**Oh, and btw I love Cas as much as the next girl and replacing him is not what this is about at all, I just wanted to toy with the idea that the boys had known about angels their whole lives. No offense meant to anyone, seriously I love Team Free Will. Just you do you and we can all be happy**

**Read, Review, and Enjoy,**

**Stars.**

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><p>"<em>Do you smell that?" I looked at my best friend from across the bed we were sharing. Dean opened an eye to stare at me.<em>

"_Lila, I don't smell anything. Go back to sleep. I'm tired. Some of us do more than sit on our butts all day." I whacked him on the arm, while sniffing the air. It stunk like rotten eggs. I know what that means…I think. I'm not realty sure, but it definitely has meaning. _

"_I do not!"_

"_Uh, yeah you do… besides I'm older so I'm always right." I rolled my eyes but sat up._

"_By a month only! I'm still going to see what—" I was cut off by a scream. Mary. I looked at Dean and we both got out of bed and ran towards the sound, curious to see what had happened to my Godmother. Probably another rat. We walked towards Sammy's nursery to see John run in and come back out holding a bundle I assumed was my youngest Godbrother._

"_Dean, take your brother outside as fast as you can! Don't look back! Now, Dean, go!" Dean took his brother and with a confused look he took his brother and started to take his brother and me towards the door. I pulled my arm back and said,_

"_Go! Get Sammy out of here!" Dean stared for a second then ran outside with his brother. I ran back towards the nursery and saw Mary Winchester, my godmother, aflame on the ceiling. "John! John, she's dead! Your sons need you! Leave her!" I grabbed his hand and he looked at me and I begged him in my head to consent to leave with me. He finally nodded and we ran out together just as the glass blew out from the nursery windows onto the lawn. John scoped up his sons and I followed him towards their car. I saw a man in a suit in the crowd watching and I thought I knew him, and I was pretty sure I recognized the silver thing in his hand, even if I couldn't place it. I glanced at the Winchesters and saw that no one was watching me. I approached the man and once I came close enough to see him well, he seemed to vanish into thin air, and I was quickly grabbed by John who herded me back over to where his sons were. A policeman walked up to us._

"_I'm looking for a Delilah Archibald." I looked at him._

"_That's me. Why? What happened?"_

"_I'm sorry to tell you this but your parents were killed in a car crash on their way home about three hours ago."_

I sat up in my bed, gasping. Dean glanced at me from his bed on the other side of the room with one eye, much like how he had the night his mother and my parents had died.

"Li'a? Wha—what's up?" I shrugged and got up, shivering in the cold air. Damn radiator was broken in this shithole motel and it was November in Minnesota. I was in a constant state of being shocked that my toes hadn't fallen off…yet.

"It's fine. Just a nightmare. Go back to sleep, Dean. We've got a busy day tomorrow." He nodded and went back to sleep within seconds. I splashed water on my face and looked in the mirror. Delilah Archibald. Piper Thomas. Julia Scott. Samantha Childs. Evelyn Carter. Savannah Smith. Mary Jacobs. The names all fluttered through my mind until they rested on a single one. Elizabeth. That had been my name for so long. Thousands of years I had had only that single name to identify myself by, then I had had another, and another, and another. But there are only two identities that matter: my first and my last. Just as there are only two sets of brothers that have ever really mattered to me: the first and the last. I glanced at the oldest Winchester and saw the faintly glowing charm that rested next to the amulet Sam had given to him when we were 12. It was slightly feminine to begin with but next to what Sam had given him, it looked downright delicate. I thought back to that night as I refocused on my face. My human face. "I'm older so I'm always right…" wrong. So wrong. I was older by so many thousands of years it stopped being funny back sometime during the Stone Age.

I glanced back one more time at my grace that hung around Dean Winchester's neck, the same grace I tore out when I was 16 in defiance, and put Elizabeth to rest for now because human Delilah Archibald was what remained, and I liked it that way.

Mary Winchester thought that angels were watching over her family. But she was wrong. There was only one. Me. Charged with the protection of the family I allowed to endure at what seems like the beginning of all things. The Winchesters.

I said that only two sets of brothers mattered and I was serious. The last: Sam and Dean Winchester, and the first, who started it all: Abel and Cain, and. The only real differences was that the first had called me Lizzie and that the Winchesters had managed to wake a part of me I didn't even know existed: the part that loved.

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><p><strong>Yes? No? Maybe so? Give me feedback so I know if its any good so far! (I promise they will get longer)<strong>


	2. Abel and Cain

**Disclaimer: Yeah, not mine, yada yada**

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><p>The next morning I woke up to find the other bed in the room empty. I put a hand on my face and groaned. I got up and poked my head in the bathroom. No Dean. Great. Why does Dean have to be such a moody little bitch? I put on a pair of shoes and a jacket and left the room, looking for the hunter. I didn't really blame him for being moody. We <em>did<em> just watch 18-year-old Sammy board a bus bound for the west coast with no idea when, or _if_, either of us will ever see him again. I walked into the front office of the motel we had crashed at last night and smiled at the man, a boy really, at the front desk.

"Is there anything I can help you with miss?" I smiled reflexively at him and said,

"Yeah, I'm looking for the guy I checked in with last night. About 6 feet tall. Leather jacket. Generally brooding personality. Probably looked like someone just shot and killed his puppy." He laughed,

"Uh, I haven't seen him, but guys like that tend not to stick around in places like this for too long the, erm, morning after, sweetheart." I raised an eyebrow.

"He's my Godbrother." The kid choked on nothing in particular,

"Oh, God I'm so sorry. I forgot; you were the couple with the two queens. Oh crap. Jesus can we just pretend this never happened?" I laughed at him and nodded,

"Sure. So you _haven't _seen him?"

"Nah, sorry Miss. I'm James, by the way." I smiled and shook his hand.

"Delilah. Nice to meet you." The door opened behind me and the wind smacked into my legs. I turned and found Dean in the doorway looking borderline amused, "Oh thank God. I was starting to think that you had left me here without a car." He shook his head and closed the door.

"I just went out for coffee…" I looked at him critically.

"Mhm. Sure." I turned back to the kid behind the desk, "Well, I found him, but it was nice to meet you." I smiled at him and left with Dean. Once the door shut he started to laugh,

"That poor kid. I think he might be the poster child for sexual frustration and you go walking in there like half-naked in the freezing cold." I rolled my eyes as we entered our room.

"Oh yeah, laugh it up. But seriously Dean, we need to talk." He continued to smile but I saw the slight twitch in his jaw.

"About what? I'm an open book." I rolled my eyes at the bald-faced lie. That man could be considered many things but open is definitely not one of them. I sighed and pushed onward.

"About what happened last night. About Sam." He tensed again and I leaned up against the door, watching him meticulously sorting the clothes in his duffel bag into dirty, not-as-dirty, and those-bloodstains-just-aren't-coming-out.

"What about him? He chose his path."

"Well, I'm going to miss him…aren't you?" I asked gently. I knew how close those boys were and I knew it was breaking the eldest bother's heart to let his little sibling go.

"Lila, he walked out on us."

"Dean, Sammy's never been a hunter, you know that. Let him have what he wants, even if it's only for a time…" my voice drifted off, until the end was barely audible. Once I realized what I had said, I clamped my mouth shut. I had said too much, and to be honest, I didn't even really know what I was talking about. It happened sometimes. Even though I was over twenty, and in pretty good control, sometimes some of the memories from ages ago would leak through and I'd find myself saying things I hadn't known that I knew.

"What was that?" my eyes widened.

"Nothing…just a little piece of advice from 3,000 years ago." He laughed slightly,

"I still don't understand that whole thing completely." I smirked as I started to pack my stuff,

"I'm an enigma, baby." He chuckled for real now and I smiled to myself at the easing tension in the room, "ready to go?" He nodded and said,

"Want to stop by Bobby's on our way out? Give Dad some time to cool off?" I once-overed the room to make sure we hadn't left anything behind before leaving for good and nodded,

"Sounds like a plan. You know, I fought Lucifer once, face-to-face, and your father still scares the shit out of me. Let's give him some time to be with himself and himself only."

"So, my dad is scarier than _Satan_?"

"That would be correct, yes." He laughed as we walked out the door and returned to the front office, this time fully dressed, and I said goodbye to James, who said to call him if I was in the area ever again ("no seriously, I'll show you a good time"). We both climbed into the Impala and I shivered as I turned on the heat. I waited a minute as Dean backed out for it to start working and once the Lego was audibly rattling in the heater, I took off my jacket as Dean fiddled with the cassette player.

"Maybe we should Jim out to check up on John?" I suggested as I shifted in the seat, trying to get comfortable for the four-hour ride to Bobby's.

"Might not be a bad idea. If anyone can make Dad put life into perspective it's the old pastor." I laughed loudly at that,

"Just don't tell Jim that he's old. He'd light your bed on fire with you in it, as he shouts 'who's old now, you little shit'." He chuckled too, at the truth behind my words and as I finally settled for leaning against the door with my feet sprawled across Dean, he said,

"Lila? Can you tell a story?" I looked at him, slightly concerned. He hadn't asked me for a story since we were probably fourteen, and even that was when he was laid up in a hospital with two broken femurs and nothing to do; even then he hadn't outright asked. He had just kept repeating "entertain me!" until I finally had told him one just to shut him up.

"Uh, sure. What do you want to hear about?" He seemed to think for a minute and I wondered what he would pick.

"I don't know. Something you've never told me." I thought I knew what he was asking for, what specific thing he wanted to know about. When Sam and Dean were both kids, I'd tell them stories, snippets of things that I remembered from other times and places, from Heaven even. The year we turned thirteen he'd asked for a firsthand account of when God banished Lucifer to Hell for his birthday gift, which I had happily given him under threat of death if he showed anyone. But after I gave up my grace, remembering became harder and more draining, but I could still do it. Of course, Sam thought that they were just stories that I had made up at first, until he was about nine and realized that it was all too real.

But even though I'd spin stories for those kids almost every night, I had adamantly refused to talk about my first real friends. I was hesitant even now, honestly, because there were times that Sammy would remind me so strongly of Abel that his face would rise up in my mind, almost impossible to get rid of. But Dean reminded me of Cain just as much, which also worried me, purely because I knew the end that the first two brothers met and it was far from glorious or desirable.

"Abel and Cain? You want the version that didn't make the cut for the King James or what?"

"I don't know…how did you meet?" I smiled and watched him, idly, as he drove. That boy was transparent. Picking now to want a story about brothers, just after he had dropped his off.

"I was charged with their protection when they were children because they could have brought on the end of days."

"The Apocalypse?" he interrupted.

"That's the one. I watched, for a long time, invisible. But being there unacknowledged and invisible is difficult and painful, so one day I took a vessel to walk amongst man. Cain was probably 15, so Abel would have been nine or ten. They lived in this little farming town and one day they came into town for something or another and I saw them for the first time, not invisible. That was the first time either of them saw me. Abel saw me first. I think I looked different than everyone else. And he came over to me. He was a sweet child. Kind and innocent. Pure. And it broke my heart that this was the child that was supposedly destined to serve Lucifer. Cain followed behind him, wary of me for the same reasons his brother was curious.

"Abel asked me my name and I told him. I said, 'I am Elizabeth. What's your name?' before Abel could answer Cain interrupted, 'What is someone like you doing here, Lizzie?' He was supposed to lead the armies of Heaven into battle, which seemed rather backwards since his brother was the virtuous one, but I was so taken off guard that I told him the truth, that I had been sent there by my brothers, which was technically true, as Michael had sent me there. Cain seemed to be put at rest by that and said, 'I'm Cain and this is my brother Abel. We live just outside of town'. We spoke for a bit about things that I don't really remember much of but eventually Abel said 'You know Lizzie,' because they had started calling me Lizzie immediately, 'I've spoken to God'.

"I was shocked. God had been gone for so long, and all the angels missed his presence desperately. I tried to convince him it wasn't God because it couldn't have been, 'maybe you were speaking to an angel instead' I said. He seemed to consider it and conceded that yes, it must have been an angel. Cain looked concerned for his brother but said nothing. Soon, Abel saw one of his friends and left to go speak with him. In his brother's absence Cain said to me, 'I know what you are. I can practically see your halo. My brother is not speaking to God, is he?' I remember how surprised I was. I had never imagined that someone could tell I was an angel. I was shocked yet again by this audacious farm boy, into telling the truth, 'No one has seen God in what seems like forever. I do not know who Abel speaks to but it is not God' I told him. Cain nodded, as if I had confirmed his worst fears, 'please' he pleaded, 'please find out who it is, who is my brother speaking to'.

"I promised to do so and to make inquiries around my home if anyone was speaking to a small boy in a small village that was supposed to change everything we knew. Just as I was departing, Abel came back up to his brother and said 'she was an angel wasn't she?' I didn't stay long enough to hear Cain's response, but flew back to Heaven to speak with my brothers and sisters." He nodded and I watched his expression.

"Elizabeth?" I nodded.

"It was my given name when I was created, my first name. You know, believe it or not, I haven't always been Delilah Archibald. I was even a blonde once." I joked.

"You never told anyone?" I shrugged at this. It had never really occurred to me,

"Honestly, I like Lila better. Elizabeth is such a mouthful and Lizzie reminds me of things I'd rather forget." I examine my nails just for something to do.

"Well, that's good because I don't think I could just start calling you Elizabeth now…is Bobby's exit this one or the next one? I always forget." I glanced up from my hands and say,

"Next one. Don't turn now unless you want to go see John right now." Dean looked slightly alarmed at that and said,

"Yeah let's not. Can you give Bobby a call? Let him know we're coming." I nodded and pull out my phone and dialed Bobby's number.

"It better be a damn emergency, Rufus."

"Erm, Bobby…it's Delilah Archibald and Dean Winchester. Am I interrupting something?" I heard him clear his throat,

"Oh, um Lila, girl, how are you? Those Winchesters treating you alright?" I laughed a little.

"Yeah, I'm good. Actually Dean and me were wondering if we could stop by yours for a couple days. Sammy and John had a real bad fight yesterday and we wanna give John a few days to calm down."

"Of course, you all are always welcome, but where's Sam?" I cleared my throat uncomfortably, and glanced at Dean,

"Um, that's what the fight was about. Sam wanted to go to school, college…and he did. He left last night. We drove him to the bus stop. We're about half an hour out. Is that alright?"

"Damn, yeah you two better haul ass here. And tell that idjit Winchester driving that he better knock that brooding look off his face or I'll do it for him." I laughed at that and said,

"Alright Bobby, I'll tell him. See you soon." I hung up the phone and Dean looked at me.

"What did he say?"

"Well he answered the phone with 'it better be a damn emergency, Rufus'. And then said to 'tell that idjit Winchester driving that he better knock that brooding look off his face or I'll do it for him'. So, the usual really. He said we're more than welcome." He nodded and rolled his eyes.

"I do _not _have a brooding look on my face." I raised an eyebrow at him, "Oh, shaddup."

"Hey, I didn't say anything. And Dean, you have a right to brood. Sammy's a huge part of your life. It will be hard to have that gone."

"Oh God, we don't have to hug, do we?" I batted my eyelashes at him,

"Do you _want_ to hug?" he jokingly shoved me and I laughed as I watched the scenery of Sioux Falls pass by.

Half an hour later, we pulled into Singer Salvage Yard and I opened the car door and stretched my legs with a groan, still sitting on the edge of the car seat. Bobby's dog, Rumsfeld, came out barking but I smiled and leaned down to greet him so his barks soon quieted upon recognition of the people and the car. Bobby came out right behind his dog and he smiled at both of us. Dean popped the trunk and grabbed our duffels, tossing me mine, but hitting the frame of the Impala right next to where I was sitting. I stood up and grabbed it, closing the door as Dean apologized vigorously to "Baby" for his "blasphemous abuse". I glanced at Bobby, who looked at me like 'is he serious' and I shrugged and said loudly,

"Dean! I think the car forgives you." He stopped his apologies and looked around, slightly embarrassed by his outburst.

"You're the one who didn't catch the bag!" I rolled my eyes and said sorry to the Impala purely to humor its owner. Bobby laughed and said,

"Well this has been more than entertaining, you two. Now why don't you come on in? You both look like rolled-over shit." I smiled at the grumpy mechanic,

"You really know how to charm a girl, Bobby. I know where Dean learned his skills with the ladies from." He chuckled,

"I ain't here to flatter you Delilah. You got them for that." We both laughed as we walked into Bobby's home, with Dean trailing behind, still looking rather insulting about my jibe about picking up women.

"Oh, if you think that John Winchester sits around complimenting me all day, you need to think about retiring, old man. Because your mind has clearly been touched with the crazy." Bobby shrugged,

"Maybe not the old man, but don't let Dean kid you, he's nuts about you." I glanced back at Dean who clearly looked like he was regretting this stop along the way, "Hell, both those boys are. You and your stories about angels and heroes and the devil." I laughed at that.

"Yeah, those are always a hit with people. Especially the one about how Gabriel created the platypus. You know there was this one time someone reminded Gabriel that that monstrosity was his creation and he smote them? Poof. Dust. So friendly suggestion, if you ever meet him, don't mention it." Bobby laughed and Dean shrugged,

"They all kind of seem like winged dicks." I raised an eyebrow at him, "Except you, Lila. You're not a dick, I promise." Bobby snickered and herded us into the kitchen.

"I don't got much by way of grub, but I've got beer and some leftover casserole from the lady next-door." I exchanged a look with Dean that meant he was clearly wondering what that casserole was for. He smirked and said,

"Bobby…you don't uh, _hit that_ do you?" I snorted into the beer that I had just accepted from Bobby. Bobby's face turned red and he boxed Dean over the ears.

"No you idjit, I got her chainsaw to work last week! That's it, no more beer, anyone else want whiskey?" I laughed and shook my head,

"I'll stick to beer, but I'll be more than happy to let you two do shots. I'll even record it for all posterity with a camera. Wait until I show John. He'll be so proud." Dean scowled at me and Bobby raised an eyebrow,

"Speaking of, he know you guys are here?" We both shook our heads, "Eh, probably better that way, really. Last time I saw your daddy, Dean, I threatened to shoot his ass full of buckshot." I dryly chuckled and muttered something about John making _everyone _want to shoot him as Dean simply raised an eyebrow, "I mean the way he toted you kids around. I understood with you, Lila, once you clued me into who exactly you are, but the boys, they needed somewhere safe and stable. Hell, I offered to take you two in." I cleared my throat,

"Bobby…yeah, it's been a long time and there's some things we need to talk about. Namely, well, I'm not an angel. Not anymore."

"Wha—is that even possible?" I nodded.

"Yeah…you remember the whole story right?"

"Damn hard to forget, even if I wanted to try to. One of the first angels created after the archangels, charged with protecting Cain and Abel, but then you wouldn't kill Cain so you got put on Earth detail, stuck following this damn family around, posing as different people. You were Sarah Archibald's 'miracle baby' and you chose that family because of how close they were to the Winchesters and you were born exactly one month after Dean here. Because your meatsuit was still growing your power and memory had to grow with it not to harm the body. Last I heard you were almost all the way back to your creation on the memory front. Your power was increasing but nowhere near your full power, and that was about six years ago."

"Angels prefer the term vessel, not meatsuit but other than that it's all right." I chuckled.

"So, who clipped your wings?" I shrugged,

"I did, I guess. Being a celestial being is like being a spotlight on wherever you are saying 'please come try to kill me' and because I wasn't into my full power I didn't want to continue to draw unwanted attention to myself and them," I gestured to Dean, "so when I was sixteen, I cut my grace out. And now Dean carries it around." He gestured to the pendant that hung around his neck. Bobby looked at me hard,

"That's great and all, but how about you tell me the real reason?" I scowled at him,

"No. It's none of your business, Bobby, so back off." I walked past him and went out the front door to sit on the front porch. As I left, I heard Dean tell him,

"It's nothing personal. She won't tell me either. Ever since Vegas, I've been begging her to take it back, but she'll hear none of it." I sat down and let the cicada drown out the voices of the men inside the house. They didn't understand, they couldn't. They had both been born—they had come into the world _alive_. I hadn't. It had taken so long for me to be alive. I knew the truth, even as a child. I knew that I was supposed to let John Winchester die that night eighteen years ago. I knew as soon as I had seen the man in the suit, who I now know to be an angel named Uriel.

The angels had wanted to raise those children ready to accept their fates. They were supposed to be orphaned that night, but I had prevented it. John…John had no idea that I had ever been anything other than a green-eyed brunette named Delilah. He didn't know that I had once worn armor and held a sword and killed things that even _his_ mind couldn't conjure up because they had been eradicated long before his great-great-great-grandfather had been a twinkle in anyone's eye. He didn't know that I had ever been a blue-eyed blonde who went by Lizzie and protected his family when he couldn't. John didn't know that I had been his babysitter, then his neighbor, before Lila was born. That I was watching, that I had _always_ been watching.

I sighed and turned when I heard the door open. Dean and Bobby came out and Dean sat down next to me, while Bobby leaned up against the wall of the house.

"Hey, Lila, I'm damn sorry for pushing you girl, but it's what family does. You know that better than anyone, growing up with those three dingbats." I stood up and smiled at the old man and hugged him gently,

"Thanks, Bobby. It's just a story that I don't think I can bear to tell. Not now. It'll be some time before I think I'll be ready." He nodded and Dean grinned from where he had sat down,

"So Bobby, did you know that Lila's real name is actually _Elizabeth_?" he raised an eyebrow,

"That right?" I rolled my eyes but nodded and preceded to tell him just what life upstairs had been like.


End file.
